Thursday, October 23, 2014

I've heard from a lot of you over the past few months checking in on me and just wanted to pop in and say HI! I AM ALIVE LOL! And thank you all for worrying about me enough to send such sweet notes. Its been a rough & crazy year and I'm hanging in there best I can. I'm not coloring right now because my hands aren't steady enough...so I do miss it but the break has been good for me to concentrate on other things I enjoy!

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Happy Saturday everyone! Spring is in the air, I swear I can feel it...and we spring the clocks forward this weekend whoohoo! My fave time of the year and I saw some flowers pushing up in the soil in my flowerbeds so its coming soon and this gal cannot wait. Because as the picture shows below...I'm SICK of winter...sick of snow every week..sick of the bitter cold. Mother Nature better get with the show, yes ma'am!

Yeah the snow from last week, in front of my patio door...its melting but not fast enough for this gal ugh! blech!

So to kick off some Spring fun I'm sharing a project today with NEW Reverse Confetti Release...whoot!!

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Hoppety Hello!

Today I get to share a new addition to the Quirky Cuties Line....."BeBe Bunny" with you...she's part of the new release from Reverse Confetti that is available starting today. She's Freida Fox's new BFF, yes'm!! LOL! Of course there are other stamps being released today so make sure to check those out too at the STORE!

If you are hopping to my blog from Amy Kolling, then please make sure you hop all the way thru and back to the beginning to see lots of fabulous inspiration today!

I used new MME papers by Rhonna Farrer...she makes one of my fave picture apps for my iPhone so I had to have her papers too :) I loved the bright & cheery spring colors...just what this gal needed! And all those pretty trims and flowers are from Lavish Laces on Etsy. The die is from Memory Box I think (I'm not 100% sure so don't shoot me) but its one of my faves for Spring/Summer.

BeBe Bunny was colored with TouchTwin Markers. Then I added some Stickles to her shirt for some pretty sparkle. Her skirt was paper-pieced and then I added some shading with my markers.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Happy Wednesday folks! I am out all day doing things I don't like to do...doctors appts and testing so I'm pretending its Friday and the weekend is here and I'm in a sunny, warm location near the beach. Hey I always said I veered towards the slightly crazy side of living LOL...and that's how I gotta think about things right now or I will go for-realzers-go-cray-cray-crazy!!!!

So I was feeling a little Irish yesterday...it totally inspired my card today...my Irish Grandma is smiling down on me I think. And I needed a bit of clean-and-simple and the happiness of kelly green :)

This card is for the Magnolia-licious "W"ednesday Posts over at the challenge blog!

I used this sweet Wild Rose Studio stamp called "Teddy with Gerbera Daisy"...yup Magnolia-licious carries this sweet line of stamps (along with Wee Stamps, Penny Black & CandiBeans)!! Isn't he darling?

PS---check out the adorable NEW Magnolia Zodiak Collection which is in storefor pre-orders!!

This card makes me smile...so I had to use this PTI sentiment (Handwritten Sentiments). The papers are by and then I lightly distressed them. I used some green/white Bakers Twine, a button and some rhinestones to finish it off. The swirls are a Memory Box die.

Soooo cute he is...or she...whichever LOL! I colored with Copics and then added some fun by double-stamping the daisy, cutting one out and popping it up for dimension. A few Stickles add some fun sparkle.

That's all for me today....hope this card brought a smile to your face today!

Have a wonderful week & hop over to the Challenge Blog to see what else the DT

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Happy Tuesday everyone! Hope you had a good 3 day weekend if you had off for President's Day here in the States. My kids had 5 days off due to the 18" of YUCKY snow we got and we got another inch last night. However it will be in the high 50's and low 60's this week so I'm praying most of this snow melts away. And melting snow means a muddy yard which translates to muddy paws for my dogs LOL...I have to keep towels by the patio door and wipe their paws when they come in (which they hate). I'm soooooo ready for Spring..this winter has been BRUTAL and I cannot wait to see green grass, flowers in bloom and warm breezes coming through the window.

We had a great Valentine's Day...you can see what Cupid brought my hubby and the teens here. I got tickets to see Billy Joel this summer with the hubs...it will be my 4th time seeing him live and I just love him. Little bit of fun trivia for you: Alexa my daughter was named after Billy Joel & Christie Brinkley's daughter Alexa Ray :) And Riley had a great 16th birthday....you can read all about him through the years on my other blog HERE. He opted for a big present instead of a trip (I took Alexa to Cali for her 16th) so he got an Alienware Gaming Laptop to play all his battle/strategy games and a Team USA Hockey jersey...so he was a very happy boy!!

Ok onto my project for the day......

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Seaside Vintage!

I'm in such a Spring state of mind...there may be snow on the ground but I'm looking so forward to the colors of Spring and the oncoming heat of Summer lemme tell ya :) So I pulled out this cutie "Playing on Beach Tilda" from the Sea Breeze Collection at Magnolia-licious (she's available in both reg size & mini)...she was unopened & ready to come out to play. This project is for the current Tues Challenge "Pretty In Pink" over at the Challenge Blog so I did a shabby chic, vintage, pink beachy scene.

My papers are a mix of My Minds Eye and Prima that I inked and distressed. I love the weathered board paper (MME) and it reminded me of the old boardwalks & piers found along the beaches on the East Coast. The swirl die is a Magnolia die and the sentiment says "Sending my love to you" from PTI. A mix of flowers from Lavish Laces and Prima along with some pearls and cream colored cheesecloth to add to the vintage look.

Tilda is colored in Copics and I added Diamond Glaze to her little floatie. I have had Frantage since it came out...a friend gave me 6 bottles at CHA the year it debuted and it has sat, and sat and sat on my shelf in my studio LOL. I finally decided it was time to put it to good use. So around the image and the circle mat I added "Aged Rose" Embossing Enamel...you just shake on what you want & where you want it and then heat it from underneath till it melts.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Happy Happy Tuesday & February 4th to you all! Did anyone watch the Superbowl on Sunday? We watched...thought it was kind of a snooze-fest unless you were a Seahawks fan. We were rooting for the Broncos because we like Peyton but I like Russell Wilson too :) I like a closer and more competitive game like last year's SB personally...makes it more fun and exciting! And the food I made was yummy...in fact we had leftovers last night...some of the recipes are at my other blog here if you are interested.

However I love Bruno Mars and I thought he knocked it out of the park...wish he'd played longer. He's just a talented dancer, choreographer, musician and singer. Would love to see him in concert but looks like we will be over in Europe when he's hear near DC...maybe next year!

Now I'm getting excited for baseball season...only 59 more days till opening day! We have season tix for the Washington Nationals..our home team. Hubby and I will be at Opening Day in DC...the teens will be in school hahaha and they can't miss for it (shhhh they don't know yet hehehe). I just love baseball and there is nothing better than hanging out at the ballpark on a beautiful day...one of our favorite things to do as a family.

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Bike Party!

Today I'm sharing a special birthday card for my mom...shhhhhh...her birthday is on the 13th this year. So my son's birthday is the 12th, my mom's the 13th and Valentine's Day the 14th... a very busy week! She will be 71 and my Gram is 92 and they BOTH can still run circles around me...its craziness ..I always feel like I'm lagging behind them :) But growing up one of the things my mom and I always did after dinner was go on long bike rides. We'd bike everywhere and I miss that...we all have bikes here but I definitely don't ride it as much as I should...gonna try to do that more this year! And since February's birthstone is the amethyst and violet is one of my mom's favorite colors...that decided my color palette for this card. Hope she likes it!!

This card is for the Magnolia-licious Tuesday Challenge "Anything Goes"...hop on over to the Challenge Blog to see all the DT gal's beautiful projects and join in on the fun too!

I used this super sweet "On the Road Tilda"(mini version here) because I think she's adorable and I loved the flowers in her bike basket. I'm so ready for spring so I think I'm craving spring colors and flowers in my projects lately. All my papers are by MemoryBox "Viola" that I've had for awhile but was waiting for the right project. The first thing I choose after my image is my papers...the papers have to move and inspire me..otherwise I don't feel it...its just the way I operate ;) I used some dies from Spellbinders, PTI and MemoryBox for the image mat, the middle border and the small tag. I used my MS butterfly punch on some of the papers and inked them...always need some beautiful butterflies on a gorgeous spring day.

The lined paper was scrap paper that I had and then I stamped some script from PTI in violet ink.

A few bits of burlap that I inked under the flowers and behind the image.

I like a vintage, distressed look so I inked and distressed all the papers and accents..and my fingers are lovely shades of brown and violet..hehe..the issues of a stamper/papercrafter yes?

I added some Stickles dotted around the image too...always have to have a little sparkle ;)

I haven't used Flower Soft in AGES...OMGosh...and I have every color ever made LOL...crafter's prerogative ya know! So I used two different mixes on the flowers in her basket. I didn't want it to overwhelm the image so after it dried I picked off some of it so you could see the leaves and space in between.

I like to layer different elements together with flowers...here I used some burlap, a punched butterfly, pearls, a tag and different flowers. I add my embellies with Scor-Tape in either 1/2" or 1/4"...my fave thing to use on my cards.

Friday, January 31, 2014

Happy TGIFriday folks! Its the weekend whoot whoot..its been a long week! We have a busy Saturday picking out new carpet for the basement (due to the flood) and paint for the walls so we can get that underway. And of course its SuperBowl Sunday. This is the first time in years we haven't had a party or gone somewhere fun for that day...but I'm tired LOL. Sitting at home with a few friends and eating some nomnoms is about all the effort I feel like making this year. Plus I don't care who wins although I am leaning towards the Broncos...last year the Ravens played so we had a bit more vested interest ;)

Anywho, hope you have a great weekend and stay warm. I have some new posts on my other blog here in case you missed those...including concert pics from last weekend!

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SCACD RELEASE DAY

Earlier this month SCACD released the Montage collection of rubber stamps, a total of 26 rubber stamps with a contemporary yet classic look that will make them a fantastic addition to your stamping toolbox for years to come.

They are available now for purchase HEREboth in full sheets and as smaller sets.

The SCACD Design Team along with some very cool guests have created a truly fun filled hop showcasing the new SCACD digital and rubber stamps. If you missed part of the hop list then check out all the details at the Store Blogtoday!

The new rubber stamps can be purchased at QUIXOTIC PAPERIEfor our International Friends.

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Today I'm using this beautiful digi "Folk Art Bird" from Carmen Medlin for SCACD. You gotta check out all these beautiful digis (oh the cats & whale are more of my faves)...so fun to color and use on all kinds of projects. I wanted mine to look a bit like a Delft China piece so I kept the colors monochrome in blue and white.

If you came to my blog via Alaine then you are on the right track...scroll to bottom of post to see who to hop along to next!

My project was inspired by the beauty of Delft China

My papers are from Bazzill Basics...love these monochromatic color paper pads! The window frame die and small scroll is from Spellbinders/HeartFelt. I distressed most of my papers and image a bit. I layered some flowers and white cheesecloth in each corner. And some pretty pearls finish everything off nicely.

Little Birdie is colored with Copics: B39,B37,B34 and B21.

Then I added some Stickles, pearls and white Sharpie poster paint marker.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Happy Wednesday everyone...are you warm wherever you are? Its cold, cold, cold here...temps in the teens in Virginia...not so much fun. And the hubs is in NYC so I'm praying that we have NO incidents with frozen pipes tonight..because I may lose my head if they do...I'm so over it all ugh. Spring...ohhhh spring where art thou Spring???????

But not everyone in my family hates the weather...my one cairn terrier Casey LOVES it! She loves to frolick and play and snuffle in the snow...she just cracks me up!

Then you have Baylee my other cairn (on right) who HATES the snow...she's my outside dog that wants to be out all the time UNLESS its snowing. And Casey never wants to spend time outside unless it IS snowing! Ay yi yi they try and make me crazy me thinks. Baylee was staring at me with her ears back cuz she'd had ENOUGH of my picture taking and wanted to come in LOL!*************************************

Kitty Love!

This is my card for today's Magnolia-licious' "W"ednesday Post...you can check out the other designers projects on the Challenge Blog here! I used these sweet Wee Stamp "Playful Kittens" (4 stamps in set) from Magnolia-licous...isn't this kitty the cutest and perfect for the upcoming Valentines Day too!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Happy Tuesday everyone! It is a SNOWY & COLD Tuesday here in Virginia. We are being hit with another cold blast this week and supposedly 8 inches of snow...can you tell I'm so thrilled. I told Winter I was breaking up with him but he didn't get the message ;) So it took a whole week for me to get over the flu...I am not wishing it on anyone that's for sure, so hope everyone is doing well. And my pipe mess is cleaned up but we still have to drywall the walls and paint and redo the carpet so that will take a few weekends to get it all done. No fun that's for sure...doing that work delays all the OTHER work I gotta do LOL..oy vey!

So I needed some SUN and WARMTH in my life...if Mother Nature won't give it to me...well I have to take matters in my own hands right? LOL so that's what I was thinking while I created my project below and was belting out songs along with iTunes yesterday ;) Hope it makes your day a wee bit sunny too!

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Sunny Cheer!

This card was made for the current Magnolia-licious Tuesday Challenge "Celebrations"...make a project for any celebration! So mine is for two things: 1) Birthdays and 2) Celebration of the Sun LOL...because I need sun and warmth in my life and Spring is still a bit away sadly.

This super cutie is from theLittle Moscow Collection and she's "Matryoshka Tilda"...I just love her adorable self so much! I used new papers from Authentique "Beyoutiful"..I loved the fun patterns and cheery colors...so pretty! I used a lot of dies on this card..love me my dies..a mix of older Spellbinders and Memory Box dies. I distressed all the papers with my Zutter Distress machine and inked them in yellow ink. The sentiment is from PTI and the flowers from Lavish Laces Etsy shop. A few pearl swirls from Prima finish off the corners...I just snipped the pieces off that fit the best.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

It’s a new year, and what could be better than to start it off with a brand new shiny release from REVERSE CONFETTI?!

Love is definitely in the air with the 6 new stamp sets (including our new QuirkyCuties line) and 3 new Confetti Cuts Dies.

We invite you to hop along with the Confetti Crew, Challenge Crew, and a few other friends today as we share our cards and projects using the new products.

We think you’ll fall in love over and over with this release!

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The hop started over on the Reverse Confetti blog, and you should have made it here from Heather Pulvirenti’s blog. It would be worth your while to start at the beginning of the hop, so you don’t miss a thing. We have tons of inspiration for you to see using all the new Reverse Confetti stamp sets!

Isn't Freida Fox the cutest...yes she's a girl in the set but I have made "her" a "boy" for this project lol! So I'm naming him FRED FOX for my project today bwahahaha! This stamp set is from Reverse Confetti's new line of "Quirky Cuties" that are being released today...hop over to the store to check them ALL out! I am looking ahead towards Valentine's Day so I decided to make a fun V-Day card boy style. My last project with this set HERE was girly themed so I decided to switch it up a bit.

The papers are a mix of Docrafts Papermania (b&w) and Bazzill Basics (red). I used a few of my Spellbinders dies to make the pinking circle element and the hearts...and a CB folder to emboss the white cardstock. The arrow I made myself because I lack any arrow dies (need the Confetti die here) and stamped the "Hey Foxy!" in white palette ink on it. HINT: she/he would be cute flocked.

So YES Freida Fox can be turned into Fred Fox heehee...love to make my stamps versatile in many ways so by cropping off the bottom of "her" it eliminated the dress. I paperpieced his sweater and scarf to match the papers I used. TIP:always shade your paper pieces when you have a colored image or else the paper piecing looks flat next to your lovely shaded and colored image. I shaded mine with C7 & C5 to add in some dimension. And I colored the image with Copics...the C Grays and then added Diamond Glaze to his "optional" glasses you can add on. I also decided to cut him out and pop him up with dimensionals on my embossed circle...I love lots of layers and textures on my cards!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Docrafts PaperMania and Bazzill Basics

Copics, Diamond Glaze, button, bakers twine

Stickles, Zutter Distress Tool, Spellbinders dies, Scor-Tape

Cuttlebug folder, dimensionals, heart rhinestones

I hope you’ve enjoyed hopping with us today. Be sure and hop with us on the 8th of EVERY MONTH for more REVERSE CONFETTI inspiration!

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About Me

Southern Girl at heart, crazy about Copics, artsy fartsy, travelin' gypsy, art/craft teacher, married to my best friend of 18 years and mom to 2 teens (lord help me)! I love sing-a-longs, making new friends, country music (Tim & Luke yeehaw), and any place near the water comforts my soul. I love to DIY and have more projects in my mind then time...a commonplace problem it seems with me. Always moving, always on the go...I like to have fun...we only get one life and we have to make the best of what we are given. ...something I tell myself everyday. Along the way I am sharing my journey...the slip-ups, falls, stumbles, laughs, hiccups, stubbed toes and all.